Director of operations Belinda Eldridge said there had been “tens of thousands” more visitors on the back of the YSP’s winning the title of Museum of the Year, the Henry Moore exhibition, the Santillana siblings’ glass sculptures, as well as the Wave, an installation of 5,800 poppies used in an arch over the entrance to the Tower of London where a vast sea of poppies was displayed in 2014.

“It is definitely the busiest year to date”, she added.

While many of the poppies were bought by people to keep in their homes, with proceeds going to charity, Wave and another piece, Weeping Window, by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, will continue to tour until 2018, when they will be permanently homed at the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester.

Tickets for special events at Yorkshire Sculpture Park at 11am on both days are free but must be pre-booked.

Car parking on both days must also be pre-booked.

For more information visit the attraction’s website at www.ysp.co.uk

GENESIS OF POPPIES

‘Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red’ installation saw 888,246 ceramic poppies “planted” in the moat of the Tower of London and attracted more than 4m visitors. Each poppy represented one British or colonial military death during World War One.

Of the 65,000 men from Yorkshire who served in the war, 9,000 were killed in action.

Poppies flourished in soil churned up by fighting and shelling, including in Flanders, the setting of the famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields,’ by John McCrae.

Artificial poppies were first sold in Britain in 1921 to raise money for ex-servicemen and the families of those who had died in the conflict.